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New York Rangers can’t lose sight of the current stage of their rebuild

By John Williams

BUFFALO, NY - APRIL 4: Christian Wolanin #86 and Craig Anderson #41 of the Ottawa Senators defend the net against Ryan O'Reilly #90 of the Buffalo Sabres during an NHL game on April 4, 2018 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images)
BUFFALO, NY - APRIL 4: Christian Wolanin #86 and Craig Anderson #41 of the Ottawa Senators defend the net against Ryan O'Reilly #90 of the Buffalo Sabres during an NHL game on April 4, 2018 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The New York Rangers are at a crucial stage of the organization’s rebuild. Trying to rush things could be costly.

The New York Rangers initiated their rebuild on February 8 when they released an open letter to season ticket holders. Even though they made a few pretty big trades, what they did was set the table for the first stage of their rebuild; a stage that will truly begin this offseason.

That stage is one of asset acquisition.

The Rangers need to bring in as many picks and prospects as possible and must do so by any means necessary. If this means taking on bad contracts from other teams, then so be. After all, the Rangers will have roughly $30 million in cap space this offseason so they should use it to their advantage.

By doing what I just suggested, the Rangers could be hurting their playoff chances next season. Next season, and even the season after that are not what matter, regardless of Henrik Lundqvist‘s age. The sooner the franchise realizes this, the better.

What’s my point in bringing this up?

There has been a lot of talk on Twitter recently about the Rangers trying to acquire players like Jeff Skinner or Ryan O’Reilly. If the Rangers were to acquire either one, they’d be doing a disservice to their rebuild. This isn’t because they are bad players — to the contrary, they are both very good, top six players.

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The problem with acquiring players like them is that it would require the Blueshirts to fork over picks and prospects of their own. That would go against everything the team is supposed to be trying to do. And while Skinner and O’Reilly aren’t old, they will be 28 and 27, respectively by the next season’s playoffs. That doesn’t exactly match up with the team’s timeline. Plus, O’Reilly doesn’t seem to be too happy playing for a rebuilding team right now, so what would the difference be here?

The Rangers need to have as many draft picks as possible to take a swing at landing a top talent throughout the draft. Yes, they could always land one through a trade, but if they were to find one on June 22, 23 or at next year’s draft, it puts them on the fast track to success. That’s what a non bottom three team needs to do this day and age.

The Rangers should be looking to deal rostered players such as Vladislav Namestnikov, Ryan Spooner and Jimmy Vesey to acquire picks, not the other way around. If they want to fill their roster with NHL talent and not with all kids, then they can add a couple bargain players or maybe even a James van Riemsdyk type without having to give up assets.

Next: Four free agents that the Rangers should stay away from

Teams have tried to rush rebuilds before and it hasn’t worked in their favor. Even though it might take some time, the Rangers need to trust the process of their rebuild no matter the pace.

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